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Notebook: Montreal Loss, Toronto's Change, Roster Pursuits And More

By: Adam Jardy

The Columbus Dispatch - September 02, 2014 02:28 PM

If not for Steve Clark’s face, the Crew’s last win could have turned out like its last loss.

In the 18th minute of an eventual 3-0 win against Houston on August 23, the Crew goalkeeper
deflected a Will Bruin breakaway with the side of his face to keep the game scoreless. Had Bruin
found the back of the net, the Dynamo might have been able to proceed like Montreal did Saturday
night once Ignacio Piatti scored the first goal of a 2-0 Impact win in the 40th minute.

“The Houston game, Will Bruin has that chance that Steve saves and we get that goal from Justin
(Meram) off pressuring them and then it’s a different game,” Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said today.
“The Montreal game was very similar. We came out really good against Montreal, pressuring them in
their own half, we got a couple shots and it was good. If we got that goal, it’s going to be very
difficult to stop us then. It’s very thin margins that you’re working with and unfortunately in
this game we just came out on the wrong end of it.”

For the Crew’s preferred style of possession and precision passing to be successful, scoring the
first goal is beneficial – especially as teams now have a clear blueprint of the Crew attack.

“The thing is that what it does is it prevents the opponent from getting organized,” Berhalter
said of ball movement. “If you look at the Montreal game, we let them get organized too easily.
They had nine guys behind the ball. They had Di Vaio up and everyone else was back. Any time you’re
playing against those numbers, it’s going to be challenging. That’s just how it is. We can play
with eight defenders against 11 and if we’re compact enough, we’re not going to get scored on.

“That’s what we’re stressing is that to break that down you need to be in good positions and you
need to move the ball quickly.”

Has there been a common thread in the games in which the Crew has had sub-standard ball movement
like it did against the Impact?

“It’s the positioning on the field,” Berhalter said. “If a guy is open, he’ll get the ball
quickly and if he’s not open it takes longer. It’s the guy on the ball and the guy off the ball
contributing to that. We learned a lot from that game. I’m telling ya, Montreal’s going to win more
games this year. That’s not the last game they’re going to win. They’re going to win a lot more
games. We’ve learned from that game.”

After watching the film, Berhalter said the staff learned a few things that weren’t immediately
apparent after the loss.

“We could have played between their lines a little bit better,” he said. “We could have moved
the ball quicker and our backs could’ve gotten forward more. I still like the attitude of how we
went there and took the game to them, especially the first 25 minutes of the game. We showed up
like the aggressor and I think that’s important.”

The Crew is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, occupying the final playoff
spot. Had it secured a draw against the Impact, it would be alone in third place.

“I don’t think as a team we say, ‘OK, we’re in fifth or fourth place,’ ” said midfielder Daniel
Paladini, who figures to replace the suspended Tony Tchani on Sunday. “Guys individually go home
and look it up on the website like anyone else. I think we just take it game by game and focus on
what we need to do. We just looked at film on the Montreal game and there’s things that we did
wrong and there’s things we did right.

“We’re just going to put the game behind us. You look at the Houston and Galaxy games, we played
probably our two best games. Then we come back and bounce into that game, we’ve just got to put it
behind us and focus on Chivas.”

A few other notes from today’s Crew media availability:

Thirteen days remain until Major League Soccer rosters freeze for the remainder of the season.
Berhalter has said the Crew is working on making an acquisition or two before then, but it doesn’t
sound like there has been much recent progress.

Asked today if there had been any updates in the ongoing search, Berhalter said, “No, not much.
Working, plugging along.”

He didn’t want to talk about the situation much, but Berhalter said he is happy to see his
former national team teammate Greg Vanney get a shot as Toronto FC’s head coach after the
organization relieved Ryan Nelson and most of his staff of its duties during the holiday
weekend.

“I don’t want to comment on it too much,” Berhalter said. “These are things that happen in an
organization and I don’t know how the communication was between them. I know Ryan and I know Greg
and I think they’re both good coaches.

“(Greg and I) played together for a long time on the national team. I would say that I guess if
Ryan had to be replaced, I’m glad it’s something that I played with from the national team program.
I think that says a lot. He’s done a lot in the league so I think it’s good.”

Morning thunderstorms that moved through central Ohio altered the Crew’s training plans. Most
of the morning was spent at the nearby Obetz recreation center because the downpour made the
training fields too soggy for action.

With a Sunday game on tap, the Crew is expected to train tomorrow after having the last several
Wednesdays off. The Crew was off yesterday as well.